A 17-year-old boy has been stabbed while walking to school this morning, metres away from the police station in Barkingside High Street.

The teen, reportedly a King Solomon High School student, was knifed outside the Cancer Research charity shop near the junction of Horace Road and High Street at around 8.20am.

An onlooker told the Recorder: “There was a group of young boys and I think they were cycling.

“All I saw was a punch – I didn’t see the knife – and then a black boy fell down. Another black boy ran off.”

She said the victim was in his school uniform.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed: “We were called at 8.20am to Barkingside High Street by the London Ambulance Service to a 17-year-old boy who had been stabbed.

“He was taken to hospital and his injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

“A crime scene is now in place and next of kin have been informed.”

On Twitter, residents have reported spotting an air ambulance landing in the Barkingside area, the London Ambulance Service confirmed an air ambulance was despatched to the scene and that they took an injured male to an east London hospital as a priority.

The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which helps protect Jews from anti-Semitism, told the Recorder it was liaising with nearby King Solomon High, in Forest Road, following the stabbing.

A spokesman said: “The CST works closely with King Solomon to ensure it has good security on site.

“We contact the school and Redbridge Police following terrible incidents like this, although at this time the motivation remains unclear.”

The High Street was closed but it has been reopened.